Bigcommerce launches automated social ad tool on ecommerce platform

Bigcommerce has launched a Product Ads tool for nearly automatic creation of social media ad campaigns from product catalogs. The company says this tool, built in partnership with ad platform Boostable and released first to US-based retailers, is an integrated ad tool on a hosted ecommerce platform.

The ads can be created by importing images and descriptions from the retailer’s online product catalog, checking a preview, editing the title and description, and then setting monthly ad spend. The tool automates audience targeting, bidding, and optimization, and multiple campaigns can be conducted via the dashboard.

A 2015 study by the National Retail Federation found that Facebook was the top customer acquisition channel for a quarter of retailers. Twitter contends that 60% of consumers say they’ve made a purchase from a small- to mid-sized business (SMB) because of information on that social network.

The Bigcommerce survey of SMBs found that 63% have used social media ads to drive traffic. It also said about three-quarters of the merchants manage their online ads by themselves.